A site that uses HTTPS will now rank higher in Google as a result of the search engine’s long-running focus on security.

Google has been talking about the benefits of HTTPS a lot in recent months, and now it is giving webmasters another big reason to use the technology.

In a blog post, Google explained it has been running tests on using HTTPS as a ranking signal for a while, and it is now moving into generally using encryption to impact rankings.

“Over the past few months we’ve been running tests taking into account whether sites use secure, encrypted connections as a signal in our search ranking algorithms. We’ve seen positive results, so we’re starting to use HTTPS as a ranking signal,” says Google.

Since the impact of HTTPS on rankings has just been announced, Google says it will not have a major impact on searches for right now. Only 1 percent of searches worldwide will be affected for the time being since Google wants to provide webmasters with time to update their sites and install encryption.

Google says it will begin providing webmasters with detailed instructions and tips regarding encryption. These tips will hopefully make it easier for websites to implement encryption while also explaining the reasons why they would want to.